This invention relates generally to peep sights for archery bows, and more particularly to a peep sight having a rear sight post for more accurately aligning the peep sight with a front sight pin or the like connected to the riser of a bow.
In the field of archery, it is well-known to provide a peep sight on the string above the nocking point of an archery bow. The peep sight works together with the front sight of an archery bow to create two points of reference that form a straight line between the archer's eye and the intended target. This straight line is often referred to as the “line of sight.” Ideally, an arrow being shot from the bow will intersect the line of sight at the target location. This requires careful adjustment of the nock point of the arrow on the bowstring as well as the height of the arrow on an arrow rest associated with the riser of a bow, and calibration of the sight pin(s) of the front sight for one or more preset distances between the archer and the target. The peep sight must also be properly located on the bowstring so that a user may accurately sight in the bow sight with respect to a distant target while in a shooting stance, which is often referred to as the “sight picture” or “sight window.” The peep sight position is largely dependent on the archer's anchor point when the bow is fully drawn in relation to his or her aiming eye, which may be different for each archer. Since the bow is custom fit to each archer, there are many variables which affect the sight picture, such as the draw length, the size and location of a front sight pin or the like with respect to the archer's eye, the shape of the archer's face including the location of the eye with respect to other prominent facial features that may be used as anchor points during aiming, the size of the peep sight aperture, as well as an archer's eyesight condition.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a diagrammatic view of a typical archery sighting system is shown. A bow 1 (FIG. 1) has a riser 2 located between an upper limb 2a and a lower limb 2b with a front sight assembly 3 connected to the riser. The sight assembly 3 has one or more front sight pins 4 connected to the riser 2 via a bracket 3a. A bowstring 5 is connected to the bow 1. A peep sight 6 is connected to the bowstring 5 and is adjusted along the bowstring above the nock point 7 of an arrow 8 to form a line of sight 9 between a user's eye 10 adjacent to the peep sight and a distant target 11. As shown in FIG. 2, the peep sight 6 typically includes a body 12 with a sight aperture 13 in line with the user's eye 10 and the sight pin 4. The peep 6 also typically includes side grooves 14 that receive strands (not shown) of the bowstring 5 to mount the peep sight to the bowstring. Such a traditional setting has several drawbacks, since the size of the sight aperture 13 can vary, as well as the distance between the peep sight 6 and the user's eye due to different shooting styles and anchor points, which may be different for each archer. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 2, it can be difficult to consistently center the front sight pin 4 within the sight aperture, leading to off-center aiming in the horizontal and vertical directions, which ultimately affects the accuracy and consistency of the shot. For example, numerals 4A and 4B represent the front sight pin 4 in phantom line positioned above and below center, respectively. Likewise, numeral 4C represents the front sight pin 4 in phantom line offset from center both vertically above and horizontally to the right, while numeral 4D represents the pin 4 in phantom line offset from center vertically below and horizontally to the left. As shown in FIG. 1, the vertical offset of the front pin 4 with respect to the center of the peep sight 6 results in an incorrect line of sight 9A and an incorrect line of sight 9B extending between the user's eye 10 and the incorrect positions 4A and 4B, respectively, of the front sight pin 4. Accordingly, a small variation in offset at the peep sight, as represented by D1 , can lead to a very large deviation in aiming accuracy at the target, as represented by D2. Although with practice the archer may eventually learn to eyeball the front sight pin more accurately toward center, any small deviation off center can result in a large deviation at the target, thus leading to inaccurate and inconsistent shots, even for more experienced archers.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a peep sight that overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.